Maha rubbishes Gujarat’s industry investment claims

The Maharashtra industrial department has rubbished the Gujarat government’s claim that it has attracted more than '12 lakh crore in investment since 1991-93. An official from the Maharashtra industrial department has justified that all states, including Maharashtra, consider industry as a production unit that creates jobs while Gujarat considers sectors like construction of roads, dams, bridges, etc as part of its industries sector. Department of industrial policy and promotion of the Union government has published figures of actual investment in states across the country. In that, it shows that since 1991-92 till July 2013, Gujarat has attracted an investment of '12.50 lakh crore, which has generated 21.63 lakh jobs through 12,147 industrial units. In the same period, 18,315 units were started in Maharashtra and 33.55 lakh jobs were generated, however, the investment attracted by these units presently stands at '10.12 lakh crore — '2 lakh crore short of Gujarat. A senior official from Maharashtra said that Gujarat’s claims are based on a mathematical gimmick. “The definition of industry is the production unit, which generates employment. All states, excluding Gujarat, show the actual investment in industry by accepting the said definition. Gujarat, meanwhile when showing figures of investment, adds the investment in building roads, dams, electricity lines, which never generate employment,” he said. Industry minister of Maharashtra, Narayan Rane, also agreed with the views expressed by his department’s official. He said, “All claims by Mr Modi are based on falsehood, and he is misleading the people.” However, BJP state president Devendra Fadnavis differed and said, “The electricity tariff in Maharashtra is so high that most of the industries prefer to shift to Gujarat.” He also added that the figures were from the statistical department, so they could not be wrong.